Noblegarden...meh

I was definitely going to finish the event and get a title at some point in time. But, as it often turns out, I was too lazy to devote several hours of my weekend to trying to snatch eggs from other bunnies. Season events in WoW just don't get me going. Clicking on a hundred or so eggs, finding mates for your pets, planting flowers in deserts...booooring. Yeah, I think I have a couple of extra hours of my life to waste on some Easter festivity in a non-existing world.

I actually like the Warhammer approach to holiday events. "Xmas is coming, people! Let us all kill each other!" Now that is fun. It is actually one of the few features of the game that I still like. I just wish WoW could have the same brutal and yet funny way of celebrating. I want squid pies in my foes' faces! Don't make me blow kisses or eat chocolate eggs all day, make me go to Lake Wintergrasp and throw Easter egg-bombs at people.

I have to admit that making holiday events not just a PvE waste of time (not that PvE itself is a waste of time, rather the egg clicking is) in a PvE game is not an easy thing to do. You can't really rush people to do instance runs, because some players just can't afford it, and Blizzard has to think of non-instance-goers too. PvP objectives (which I would prefer) are even less likely to be accessible to the majority of the players. So I guess that the only way of structuring the events is the way it is done today. Boring, "there and back again", "gather ten this and eat ten that" quests. Simply because that way most of the players can finish them.

But why not give the players and alternative? Give the PvE players their gathering quests and the PvP players their killing quests. I'd rather search for eggs in Lake Wintergrasp than in Kharanos. And the eggs should be explosive!

Land of the Dead and WAR Issues

Mythic is putting out some hot content. The new RvR dungeon or rather a zone, bigger than the Lost Vale and "RvRier" than most of the zones in the game. Making epic content is a great way to get people back in WAR. At least if I were a frustrated lvl 40 I would definitely log on to check out the content. The official podcast explains a lot right here (part 1) and here (part 2).

The problem with such an expansion, to my mind, is that it won't keep the players interested for that long. It is huge, it is hardcore, you have to purge the place of the opposite faction when the zone flips, but what is there to do when you clear all the PQs and instances? It is back to trying to sack Altdorf or the Inevitable City. Which is still the worst part of the game.

The system of controlling Nehekhara is again based on zone control and killing the players of the opposite faction. That takes time and determination. You can't just fly up to the Instance and enter, you have to spend several hours fighting other players for resources first and then get to see the new content. That sounds fun but how can a casual player fit in such a game? Mythic was portraying WAR as a game that you can play casually and not worry about the content "running away from you". But in reality Warhammer forces gamers to spend hours and hours fighting for objectives (which isn't fun). Otherwise you can just log on to your alt and run around Tier 1 and 2. Personally I doubt that I would have enough time on my hands to dedicate to City Sieges.

When I first heard of Warhammer Online and the City Sieges I was sooo pumped. Really, what can be better than fighting other players for a whole city? I was sure that it was going to be all about RvR. It turned out that it wasn't. It was mostly PvE. I'm actually glad that I haven't gotten to 40 with my Engy. And the truth is, I don't really want to level that fast because I know that the higher you are - the less fun the game is.

So it seems that even with the introduction of the new content Mythic isn't addressing the issue. What they really need to do is make the end-game actually fun and worth striving for. Not to mention fix all the bugs that still pop up every now and then. I'm now playing around with my squig herder in Tier 2 and I'm having a fair share of fun. But unfortunately the buzz of the game is gone for me. Everything gets repetitive after a while and keep sieges are no exception. The thing is, I don't even see the point of leveling my toon. I'm not convinced that Mythic is going to overhaul the City Sieges and make them actually RvR. Its all about the objectives, no end-game - no game.

Is That?...

In my previous post I was ranting about the lack of vehicles in dungeons. That's what you get for being behind with the gear. I was watching YouTube and this is what I came across.





If that is what I think it is then all hail to Blizzard! More of the same please!
*Note to self: watch YouTube before ranting.

I'm Peeved, Merlin...

These words came back to me recently. And they came back to me with regard to WoW. What kind of a game is it that can bring both friendly fun and frustration at the same time? And you keep coming back to it even after having left and slammed the door on the way out. But that is not the point.
Dps. The ruler of the game. It seems that it is never enough. Stats in general often leave people out of the action just because it is very hard to get into a raiding guild. If your stats don't comply with requirements that some people set for others you are pretty much screwed. The thing is that you have to get epic gear and the best way to do that, to my mind, is running heroics. Dressed in blues and thinking of improvements I was eager to run the instances. Unfortunately the organisation in our guild is on the sloppy side. So I have to get into PUGs occasionally. Nonetheless I'll stick with my guild. We are trying to make things better and I just like my guildies. I'd rather hang out with lay-back gamers than go raiding with people who treat the game as a job.
PUGing through heroics isn't a fun experience. And there will be some guy with the Recount add-on (I believe that is what it's called). This mod has some magical effect on people. As soon as they see that the amount of dps is not sufficient in their judgement, the dungeon run (that was going ok) falls apart. It is like the damage meter tells you to wipe. I remember clearing instances with much less dps than average but with two healers. It took longer but there was no recount to break our run.
If you are lucky, you will find a big guild for all types of players and where purple guys find time to run instances with the blues, thus helping them in their quest to the top. But on my server it seems that the badass guilds are getting better and better and raise the requirements for new recruits even higher, while the lower level guilds find it harder and harder to get their teams together and get the guild running. So the gap between the guilds is getting wider. The raiders get the epics and the young guilds get discouraged.
The new dungeons are very straightforward. Dps is the solution to most of the bosses. That makes the dungeons much easier in regard to brain activity. I'd rather have dungeons where one had to have his/her head screwed on right, where you had to figure out some things in order to make the boss weaker or break his protective shield or something. Instead the game revolves around things getting bigger and more powerful. You cannot raise level caps and dps forever.
Why not make dungeons and boss fights more of a controls challenge? Use vehicles, flying machines or whatever fun toys to defeat the boss. The encounters where you would have to aim, dodge or work some vehicle as a team would be so much fun for me. And it would make more sense. I mean what is up with high-end raids like the old Gates of Ahn'Qiraj or any of the new ones? 25 people defeat some overlord, that eats vast armies for breakfast! Warcraft 3 was a dumb game and the armies were just a waste of time. You could just get 25 guys to defeat the Burning Legion.
WoW will probably be there for a long time even if Blizzard still continues to just raise level caps and the stats along with them. But don't the devs have any ambition? They do want to make the game better, don't they? I'm no dev and I probably don't realise a tenth of the difficulties of making and running an MMO, but still, doesn't implementing some aspects of other types of games into one MMO make the experience much more diverse and fun than just collecting achievements, mounts and epic gear (which will be completely useless with the launch of another expansion)?

Patch 3.1 and stuff

Patch 3.1 brought some joy and sorrow to WoW-fans. I've heard loads of complaining about server issues, countless bugs and so on. I was fortunate enough not to encounter any major problems. I only had to update my only mod - bartender.
Dual spec is a blast! I feel so flexible playing my mage. I'm now arcane/frost for the price of one. And I can choose to AoE mobs to death or blast single ghouls with arcane missiles. Unfortunately I am behind with my gear, so I can't check out Ulduar. But it is just one instance and this patch is so much more than that. A bit of whining ahoy.

A ton of tweaks and changes for death knights and just a bit for the mages. We get more mana regeneration, which makes me happy both on frost and arcane. Plus Mage Armor is much more useful now with 50% mana regen while casting. Less drinking for me. Unfortunately mages still got no spell power improvements and are still beaten by warlocks in the game of damage dealing, while still being the squishiest class of them all. I can understand frost mages being underpowered with their Frostbolts, accounting for the high level of security and great crowd control. I don't really know if it is me being so used to Ice Barrier or is it the arcane spec but with arcane in dungeons I tend to be killed the second I realise that I'm being attacked. Mana Shield isn't getting the job done to my mind. Although I get a whole lot of resistance to magical stuff, so it is arcane against the "mage bosses".
As for the non-patch agenda, Lake Wintergrasp is really fun (as much fun as you can get without collision detection). Riding on a tank and spamming Frostbolts and AoE Blizzards upon the heads of the foes is so pleasant, especially if you have your guildmate driving. Frost spec is so for PvP. The Water Elemental has so much utility with his ranged Frost Nova. And again AoE Blizzard. Just herd'em up close to each other and see the magic happening.
Lake Wintergrasp is an awesome thing to implement and I look forward to more of the Alterac Valley type of innovations.

Well...80. Hurra.

So I got to 80 with my mage. I am pleased. The only thing left is getting epics and earning a title or two. Heroics! The best thing in WoW. I am coming for them. So...yeah. I don't know what to say really. Oh, I know! If Blizzard raises the level cap to 90 in the next expansion, I will be pissed! Very pissed.
As for the content in Northrend, it is wonderful. They really put a lot of effort into making quests interesting. I actually have fun with dailies. Shooting dragons with harpoons, bombarding zombies, climbing the mountain on a gnome bot - I enjoy that stuff.
Blizzard people are smart, they have to think of some ways of making expansions without making people go through 10 more levels. And the problem with Wrath is the fact that it is en "elitist" expansion. There is nothing there for the lower level guys. I want new races and Gnomeregan. Give gnomes lore!

A bit about WAR

Damn...I hate to say it, but WoW has been taking most of my gaming time. And not just because of my determination to get to 80 and explore everything there is to explore in the expansion. I'm not playing that much because I'm no longer having fun with my Engy. I still like the class. The main reason for my discontent is the type of realm (open RvR) and the faction.
I made a mistake getting on an open RvR server. Taking keeps is a useless activity unless you are at the top of your tier. There will be dumbass players in higher tiers taking a keep and ripping you to shreds, although they get nothing for that. So it is scenarios for you until you grow up to play with the big boys. Some may call me a sissy, but I like having fun in a game and not going to pains just for the sake of being hardcore.
The faction. I can't stand Order! I bit the bullet just because I liked playing the Engineer but now I can't take the cheesy feathered helmets of the knights of the blazing sun, the puritan clothes of witch hunters and the uppity elves that look too posh to fit in the game. Order has no character and even the Slayers can't do anything about it. I feel ridiculous running around with wimpy looking humans. I realize that the time of choosing your side has long gone and I should have thought about that earlier but we all make mistakes. And seriously that is not such a big deal - so I'll have to either level my squig herder from tier 2 or get a new alt. I'm thinking of getting a Choppa. We'll see.
Not liking the faction is not much of a complaint really. Although I played a human in WoW and liked the Alliance. Mythic has made Order too dull; I still can't shake the feeling that Order is portrayed as some loser that is made fun of. I may be wrong. By the way in all the trailers Destruction was kicking Order's butt. How is that for an advertisement?
So I'm going to the dark side to look for fun there. I just hope that such discontent with one of the factions isn't the sign of just getting sick of the game all around.

A bit about WoW

Two levels left to go until I hit 80 and will be free of leveling ... for a little bit. In any case my level 78 mage is running around Icecrown killing zombies and vikingish people. The land looks like Mordor on Xmas day. Why invent a new type of land when you can copy LOTR? Next thing you know, Arthas's only weakness will be the One Ring (or maybe the One Frostmourne). But I'm just ranting right now.
I'm really getting sick of crawling towards 80, but I am a man! I'll keep on going till I get to my ultimate goal (and then get to another one - epics; and then another - titles; and then another - collecting mounts; and then another - collecting pets; and then another - buying the next expansion to find all my in-game possessions to be obsolete). Actually I don't really see why people would submit themselves to so much punishment farming achievements. Bragging? Maybe. Personally I'm not a fan. I've seen better achievement systems (guess where). The only title I'd like to have is "Diplomat", so maybe I'll farm for that if I get around to it sometime. Despite my somewhat slighting attitude towards Achievements the fact that you have so much "mini-games" inside a game is a very prudent thing in the long run. It gives the player reason to stick around after hitting 80, there is so much you can do in WoW besides killing mobs or PvPing. And Blizzard has so many people hooked on the achievements which results in more money for the company. More money for new projects.

Blizzard will have another expansion for WoW. I have no idea what they will think of next. Maybe they will not let us kill Arthas in Wrath - so they wouldn't have to come up with a brand new villain. But won't that get really old by the 3d expansion? All I know is that I hope so much that they won't raise the level cap again. I'd be disappointed to the state that I'll just loose faith in Blizzard's creativity. And what the use of a company that can't come up with something so revolutionary that it would redefine MMOs? And if Blizzard may not be able to do it - I can't imagine who could. I'm being a bit pessimistic here, but still.